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Rick Tarara's multimedia project; making multimedia more accessible



Dear PHYS-L Folks:

On 1/13/01 Rick Tarara described an interesting and potentially
valuable grant project for developing multimedia software for lab
simulations, whose goals are given as:

>MULTIMEDIA PHYSICS LABORATORY SIMULATIONS

>Goals: To provide pre/post laboratory computer tools for high school and
>college physics laboratory exercises that closely match the available
>equipment. These tools will enrich and expand existing laboratory
>experiences and can also provide a virtual lab experience for equipment poor
>programs.


May I make three simple suggestions to Rick and to ALL developers of
multimedia instructional materials?

1. Include an audio track giving spoken descriptions of the videos and
still pictures for the benefit of students who can't see the screen.

2. Just as visual output needs audio, audio outputs need video: if audio
outputs (especially spoken narration) are important, they should be
captioned. This accommodates students who can't hear the audio.

3. If the software requires mouse-clicks, provide keystroke alternatives
for students who can't operate a mouse.

As multimedia materials become more and more important in education at all
levels, many students with disabilities are being left out. It doesn't
have to be that way: simple inclusion of additional inputs and outputs can
help students with a variety of disabilities use the materials productively.

For more information, visit The CPB/WGBH National Center for Accessible
Media. They have a set of guidelines called "MAKING EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE
ACCESSIBLE: DESIGN GUIDELINES INCLUDING MATH and SCIENCE SOLUTIONS." The
url is

http://main.wgbh.org/wgbh/pages/ncam/


Best regards,

David Lunney
Lunney Associates
Simpson, NC


" Beauty, strength, youth are flowers, but fading seene;
Duty, Faith, Love are roots, and ever greene. "

-- George Peele (1556-1596)